Sun reporter charged in UK police payments probe

A journalist from Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid who allegedly paid police for tip-offs has become the latest person to be charged as part of Britain's wider phone-hacking scandal.

Virginia Wheeler, the paper's defence editor, is accused of paying a police officer at least 6,450 pounds ($9,700), for information about suspects and victims of accidents and crimes including in the case of the death of a 15-year-old girl.

The tip-offs included information about high-profile individuals and people associated with them, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.

Wheeler and former Metropolitan Police Service constable Paul Flattley will be charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, the CPS said.

A court date is not yet set.

Illegal payments to public officials for information has been discovered as part of the wider phone-hacking scandal which forced Mr Murdoch to close what was once Britain's best-selling paper, the News of the World, in 2011.

Among others already facing charges in the scandal are prime minister David Cameron's ex-media chief Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, who was once courted by a succession of British prime ministers in her role as Mr Murdoch's lieutenant.